IMPROVING THE GRADE X PM 1 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY USING INTERACTIVE GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES AT SMKN 1 DEPOK IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014.

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IMPROVING THE GRADE X PM 1 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY USING INTERACTIVE GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES AT SMKN 1

DEPOK IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

A Thesis

Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Attainment of the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan in English Language Education

Written by: Barno 07202241068

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS

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MOTTOS

“Urip kui kudhu Prihatin lan kerja keras ” (The Writer’s Father)

“Never take what’s not yours” (Dra. RA. Rahmi D. Andayani, M.Pd.)

“Being single is a matter of choice” (Writer)

“Being normal is not something you should proud of, it’s something you should get away from”

(Jodie Foster) “Adventure is out there”

(Up the Movie)

“You are not too OLD to be YOUNG” (Snow White)

“Stay positive, stay ambitious, stay brave, stay fighting, stay focused, stay strong. Mentality is everything. (Unknown)

“I am

NOT

nothing”

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Alhamdulillah hirobbil alamin, all praise and gratitude are sent to Allah SWT for always giving the ability, competency, and opportunity for the writer to

finish the undergraduate study. With much hard work and support from beloved

people around the writer, finally the writer can finish this thesis. Here, the writer

is really grateful to:

1. the supervisor, Dra. R.A. Rahmi D. Andayani M. Pd. for the limitless

patience, guidance, time, support, attention, and all sacrifices to direct the

writer in finishing this thesis,

2. the headmaster of SMK N 1 Depok for the support and permission for

conducting the research in the school he leads,

3. the English teacher of SMK N 1 Depok, Suherlan S.Pd., for the help and

guidance during the research,

4. the collaborators in this research, Suherlan S. Pd. and Akbar Pradana,

S.Pd., for the time and suggestions,

5. students of Class X Marketing Program of SMK N 1 Depok for the

cooperation,

6. my beloved family; mother, father, sisters, niece, for the support, help,

prayers, happiness, and patience to wait the researcher in finishing this

thesis,

7. my beloved friends and partner in crime for the support and happiness,

8. those people who cannot be mentioned one by one for the support and help

in completing this thesis.

The writer completely realizes that this thesis is far from being perfect so that

there is always open space for positive criticism and suggestions. Over all, the

writer expects that this thesis will give many advantages for those who are going

to conduct the research in the same field and also as alternative teaching activities

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viii Yogyakarta, Juni 2014

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vii

LIST OF CONTENTS ... ix

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW A. Teaching English as a Foerign Language ... 9 1. Definition of Interactive Activities ... 19

2. Advantages of Interaction ... ….20

3. Principle of Interactive Teaching ... 21

4. Procedure of Doing Interaction...24

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5. Implementing Group Work in the Classroom………..34

E. High School Students 1. Characteristics of High School Students ... 33

2. Characteristics of High School Students in Common…37 3. Strategy to Cope with High School ………..38

F. Conceptual Framework ... 39

G. Analytical Framework……… . 43

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODS A. Research Design ... 45

B. Setting of the Research ... 46

C. Subjects of the Research ... 46

D. Data Collection Techniques ... 47

E. Instruments of the Research ... 47

F. Data Analysis Technique……… 48

G. Procedure of the Research ... 1. Reconnaissance ... 51

2. Planning ... 52

3. Action ... 52

4. Reflection ... 53

CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION A. Sharpening of th Problem 1. Reconnaisance... . 57

2. Identification of Field Problems ... 58

3. Research Probles ... 60

4. Determining the Actions to Solve the Problems ... 61

5. Actions Plan ... 64

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1. Planning of Cycle I ... 66

2. Actions and Observations ... 69

3. Reflection of Cycle 1 ... 88

4. Findings of Cycle 1 ... 93

5. The Implementation of Cycle 2 ... 92

6. Planning ... 92

7. Actions and Observations ... 98

8. Reflection of Cycle 2 ... 114

9. Summary of Cycle 2 ... 119

C. The Result of Speaking Test ... 122

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusions ... 124

B. Implications ... 125

C. Suggestions ... 126

REFERENCES ... 128

APPENDICES A. Appendix 1 (Field Notes) ... 133

B. Appendix 2 (Interview Transcripts) ... 140

C. Appendix 3 (Questionnaire Guidline) ... 158

D. Appendix 3 (Questionnaire Result) ... 161

E. Appendix 3 (Course Grid) ... 200

F. Appendix 4 (Lesson Plans) ... 206

G. Appendix 3 (Pre/ Post-Test Guidline) ... 238

H. Appendix 5 (Speaking Rubric) ... 240

I. Appendix 6 (Speaking Scores) ... 241

J. Appendix 7 (Scrores Comparison) ... 245

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Learning Activities. ... 56

B. Table 2: The List of Actions Plans Which Are Going to be Implemented… ... 62

C. Table 3: The Students’ Answer of Question Number 10: Pronunciation Drilling. ... 72

D. Table 4: The Students Answer of Questionnaire Number 12: Were the Interactive Group Work Activities Interesting?. ... 77

E. Table 5: The Students Answer of Questionnaire Number 13: Could You Give Me the Reason Why the Interactive Group Work Activities Interesting/ Not Interesting……… 78

F. Table 6: The Students Answer of Questionnaire Number 6... 84

G. Table 7: The Students’ Answer of Questionnaire Number 8………. 102

H. Table 8: The Students’ Answer of Questionnaire Number 11. ... 103

I. Table 9: Students’ Answer of Questionnaire Number 20: Problems Dealing with Speaking English……… 112

J. Table 10: The Comparisson of Cycle I and Cycle II ... 119

K. Table 11: The Result of Students’ Speaking Ability………. . 120

L. Table 12: The Result of Students’ Speaking Ability in Pre-Test ... 121

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LIST OF FIGURE

A. Figure 1: The Analytical Construct ... 41 B. Figure 2: The Action Research Model………. 43 C. Figure 3: The Teaching and Learning Activities………. ... 78 D. Figure 4: The Students did Interactive Group Work Activities…. .. 82 E. Figure 5: The Students did Interactive Group Work Activities …. . 82 F. Figure 6: The Students did Interactive Group Work Activities …. . 85 G. Figure 7: The Students did Interactive Group Work Activities …. . 105 H. Figure 8: The Students did Interactive Group Work Activities …. . 108 I. Figure 9: The Result of Pre-Test and Post-Test……… . 121 J. Figure 10: The Improvement of Students’ Comprehension, Vocabulary,

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xiv Written by

Barno 07202241068

ABSTRACT

This study was aimed at improving the teaching learning process and students’ speaking ability by the use of interactive group work activities for students of Class X PM 1 of SMKN 1 Depok.

This research is an action research study. The subjects of the study were 31 students of Class X PM 1 of SMKN 1 Depok in the 2013/2014 academic year. The data were collected by observing the teaching and learning process during the implementation of the action, giving questionnaires to the students and teachers, interviewing the students and the English teacher, giving worksheets to the students, taking pictures of the teaching and learning process, and conducting discussions with the English teacher, collaborators, and the students. The instruments used in this research were questionnaires, interview guide, observation sheet, and tests. The use of interactive group work activities was aimed at improving the students’ speaking ability. The activities were intended to encourage the students to actively employ English so that they became gradually accustomed to speak in English.

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IMPROVING THE GRADE X PM 1 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY USING INTERACTIVE GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES AT SMKN 1

DEPOK IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

Ditulis oleh Barno 07202241068

INTISARI

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memperbaiki proses kegiatan belajar mengajar dan memperbaiki kemampuan berbicara siswa dalam berbahasa inggris dengan menggunakan interactive group work activities untuk kelas X PM 1 SMKN 1 Depok.

Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian tindakan kelas. Subjek penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas X PM 1 SMKN 1 Depok yang berjumlah 31 siswa di tahun akdemik 2013/2014. Dalam penelitian ini, data dikumpulkan dengan mengobservasi proses kegiatan belejar mengajar selama pelaksanaan penelitian, memberi kesioner kepada siswa, mewawancarai siswa, guru, dan kolaborator penelitian, mengambil gambar, dan melakukan diskusi baik dengan siswa, guru, maupun kolaborator penelitian. Oleh karena itu, peneliti menggunakan instrumen penelitian berupa lembar kuesioner, lembar interview, embar observasi, dan test. Penerapan interactive group work activities bertujuan untuk memperbaiki kemampuan berbicara siswa dalam berbahasa inggris. Kegiatan-kegiatan yang dilakukan ditujukan untuk mendorong siswa secara aktif menggunakan bahasa inggris sehingga mereka secara bertahap terbiasa berbicara dalam bahasa inggris.

Berdasarkan observasi selama kegiatan belajar mengajar dan wawancara yang dilakukan baik sengan guru, siswa, maupin kolaborator penelitian, hasil dua siklus penelitian menunjukan bahwa interactive group work activities berhasil memperbaiki kegiatan belajar mengajar dan memperbaiki kemampuan berbicara siswa dalam bahasa inggris. Interactive group work activities dalamhal ini sangat bermanfaat untuk mendrong siswa berbicara menggunakan bahasa inggris terutama dalam membantu siswa mengungkapkan idenya. Di akhir siklus ke dua, siswa menjadi lebih terbiasa mendengarkan bahasa inggris dan menjadi lebih lancar berbicara dalam bahasa inggris. Selain meggunakan data qualitatif, perbaikan kemampuan berbicara siswa juga diukur secara quantitatif dengan menggunakan pre-test dan post-test. Dari kedua test tersebut ditemukan bahwa nilai rata-rata pre-test sebesar 32,96. Sedangkan nilai rata-rata untuk post test sebesar 35,25.

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English undeniably plays an important role since it becomes the

international language. Therefore, Indonesian government has set a curriculum

which determines English as the compulsory subject starting from the junior high

school level to prepare the students for being able to actively use English. In this

case, the English teaching and learning process essentially is aimed at preparing

the students to comprehend English thoroughly in order to enable the students to

do communication in the global era.

Comprehending English thoroughly means that learners comprehend four

macro skills which consist of listening, speaking, reading and writing which

means that if learners have not mastered all those skills, the learners cannot be

said comprehending the language. In short, no matter how good the English

competency the learners have, if they cannot perform it into those four skills well,

it somehow becomes useless since the nature of language learning is to enable the

learners to communicate. Nevertheless, some people consider that grammar is

indeed one of important elements in language but it is not the focus of learning

language because it can be taught together with learning those four skills. This

belief seems influencing the teaching method into communicative teaching from

grammar and translation method.

Some also believe that language learners have comprehended the language

if they are able to speak and write with the target language fluently. However,

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whether the learners have comprehended the target language or not because most

communication is delivered through speaking. For instance, many Javanese

people speak Javanese fluently although some of them are incapable of writing or

reading Javanese letter. They are deemed by people that they comprehend the

language since they can speak Javanese language. Thus, it is very important for

learners to master speaking skills to be able to communicate with others. In fact,

in the context of learning foreign language, mastering speaking skills is not a

piece of cake. Most people realize that it is difficult although they have

accomplished grammar and other micro skills. The learners often get confused

how to express their ideas into words.

To assist the students in mastering English, the teacher should not only

apply appropriate methods but also interesting activities to encourage them to

actively take part in the teaching and learning process. Teaching speaking is

impossibly done without any practices. Students must actively take part in

teaching and learning activities using the target language that they have learnt.

Nevertheless, the time allocation in teaching speaking skills is very

limited. There are, in fact, so many materials that have to be delivered during the

teaching and learning activities. Thus, some teachers mainly just focus on

finishing the material without giving any chances for students to practise English

orally. This condition causes the teacher to apply monotonous method in teaching

and learning activities. In addition, the inputs they give to the students are not

varied. The nature of teaching and learning English, in the end, seems not for

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language but the teaching and learning process is aimed at making the students

able to pass the examination.

This condition seems to happen to the English teaching and learning

process in SMKN 1 Depok. Mostly, the students’ speaking ability is low although

their grammar knowledge is good enough; they know the formula of simple

present tense, simple past tense, simple future tense, and the other tenses or

grammar. However, when the students are asked to practise speaking or writing,

most of them find it difficult especially dealing with what grammar to be used and

how to use it. When they have to speak using the target language, that is English,

most students are grammatically unaware, for instance, the use of subject-verb

agreement.

The way to express their ideas into words is somehow one of the big

challenges that the learners should deal. Based on an interview after the researcher

conducted observation, the learner stated that it was frustrating when they did not

know what to say. Some strategies may be done in order to help learners to be

able to use their knowledge into performance. In this case, the teacher could help

them by providing various media and methods to stimulate the learners to speak.

Some experts, dealing with applying method in teaching, suggest that

teachers provide interaction in teaching and learning activities. The interactions

are set to make the students use the target language. The interaction will happen

by applying interactive group works in teaching and learning activities. The group

work should be interactive which means that teacher should set a series of

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are set specifically for speaking so that the kind of tasks and activities were

different from activities to teach writing, reading, or listening. The principle of

group work activities essentially is to make the students speak English together

with their partner.

As mentioned previously, the basic principle of group work activities is to

create interactions among group members so that they can use English as a means

of communication. In the activities, the learners actively use English they have

learnt so that they will become accustomed to use English.

B. Identification of the Problems

To identify the problem, the researcher carried out two techniques,

those were, observations and interviews. The observations were carried out not

merely by observing the teacher taught the students but the researcher, in other

occasion, directly taught them in the class. Therefore, the researcher really knew

the problems by doing interactions with the students. The interviews were done

after the researcher conducted the observations. He asked several questions to the

students related to the problems occurred in the teaching and learning activities.

From the observations and interviews, finally the researcher concluded several

problems occurred in teaching and learning process. Those problems were

interaction in the classroom and the use of language, the limited sources for

teaching and learning activities, the limited time allocation for teaching speaking

skill, the monotonous activities applied by the teacher, and the lack of media used

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Firstly, the problem was related to interaction in the classroom and the use

of language. The interaction happened as usual like in common school; the

teacher delivered the materials by explaining them in front of the class while the

students listened to the explanation. Based on the observation, the teacher rarely

employed English when he delivered the materials. He tended to use Indonesian

language in delivering materials and interacting with the students. The researcher

found out the reason after he interviewed the English teacher, he said that most

students did not understand when the teacher actively explained materials in

English. This statement, unfortunately, was true. When the researcher in one

occasion delivered the materials using English, there was a student directly

complaining to the researcher because she did not understand the explanation. She

eloquently complained using Javanese language.

Secondly, the problem was related to the limited learning sources. There

was just a course book which was used in every meeting. In teaching and learning

process, the teacher mainly focused on the module. In addition, the teacher rarely

brought additional materials from different sources. Not only the materials, the

tasks and the activities also focused on the module. The effect of focusing the

materials and the tasks on the module was that the students easily got bored

because sometimes the students had read and done certain exercises in the course

book. The students rarely got new information in the teaching and learning

activities since what they got was almost the same as what they learnt from the

course book. This course book, in addition, was used by all students as the main

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Thirdly, the researcher was concerned about the problem dealing with

limited time allocation of teaching speaking skills and the activities that the

researcher applied to deliver the materials. The researcher sensed that this

problem occurred in most schools because there were four skills to be taught. The

teacher usually preferred giving writing tasks to giving speaking tasks because

giving writing tasks would spend less time than speaking. For instance, the

competence should be speaking and the task should be practicing the dialogues,

the tasks usually ended up in writing dialogues. The students, in the end, just

submitted the result of the writing without practicing the dialogue.

Fourthly, the problem was related to limited use of media. There were

actually various media available in SMKN 1 Depok such as the LCDs in all

classes, sound systems, and a language laboratory. However, based on the

student’s statement, the LCD was hardly used by the teacher to present the

materials or to give additional materials taken from other sources. The language

laboratory was rarely used as well. This problem affected to the lack of students’

listening ability which lead to the students’ speaking ability.

C. Limitation of the Problems

Because it was impossible to solve all the problems that occurred in the

teaching and learning activities, the researcher focused on solving activities and

tasks to improve students speaking ability. This selection was based on the lack

activities applied by the teacher to stimulate students to actively use English as a

means of communication. The activities which the researcher applied were

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problem, the problems of this research were focused on the investigation to find

out the use of interactive group work activities to improve the students’ speaking

ability in that school.

D. Formulation of the Problems

Based on the limitation of the problems, the problems of this research

were formulated as follow:

1. How are interactive group work activities implemented to improve the

teaching of speaking skills of grade X PM 1 students of SMKN 1 Depok?

2. How the improvement of the students’ speaking ability is described due to the

improvement of the process?

E. Objectives of the Study

Related to the formulation of the problem, this research was aimed at

describing how the interactive group work activities were implemented to

improve the teaching of speaking skills of grade X PM 1 students of SMKN 1

Depok and described the improvement of the students’ speaking skills due to the

improvement of the process.

F. Significances of the Study

The significances of the study covers several parties enlisted as follows:

1. For the English teachers of SMK N 1 Depok

This research can be used to improve the process of teaching speaking so

that the teaching learning process is successful and gives a great positive impact

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2. For other English teachers.

This research can be a reference or model to improve the teaching

speaking ability.

3. For the students of SMK N 1 Depok

Students of SMK N 1 Depok can improve their speaking ability through

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Brown (2000: 193) explains that foreign language learning is a leaning

a non native language in one’s own culture with immediate and widespread

opportunities to use the language within the environmental of one’s culture. The

contexts of foreign language are those in which students do not have ready-made

context for communication beyond their classroom (Brown, 2001: 116). It is

taught in school but not essentially used in national or social life (Broughton,

1980:6; Mambu, 2010:1). Brown also adds that people attempt to learn foreign

language in order to communicate with people from other countries. In this case,

since English is an international language, language learners are prepared to be

able to communicate with people across the country. The communication is not

merely spoken but also written.

Similar with Brown, Uso-Juan (2006:151) says that the final target of

learning foreign or second language is to do communication. Therefore, even

spoken language is not the only way to do communication with people, mastering

speaking ability plays a key role in learners’ success in accomplishing this goal.

Bygates in Uso-Juan (2006: 161) says that learning a foreign language involves

internalizing and mastering a new linguistic system which is a complex and

time-consuming task. In this case, the students learn a new language which can be

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language knowledge has to be integrated into learners’ own purposes to meet

their needs.

B. Teaching Speaking 1. Speaking Ability

Harmer (2004) divides the English skills into two groups; those are

receptive skills and productive skills. Dealing with those two language skills,

speaking is categorized as productive skills in which it deals with the knowledge

of language features and the ability to process the idea and language on the spot

through mental or social processing. Furthermore, Harmer explains that the

language features related to speaking consist of four elements: those are connected

speech, expressive devices, lexis and grammar, and negotiation language. In terms

of mental processing, Harmer suggests three stages in what extent a speaker

produce a language: those are language processing, interacting with others, and

(on the spot) information processing.

In language processing, a speaker should be able to process the language

in their head and arrange into a coherent order so that it can convey a

comprehensible and intended meaning. After language processing,

communication will be real by interacting with others, at least it consists of two

people sharing their idea into a language. When interacting with others occurs,

sometimes people should process the information right away to make the

communication effective. This stage is called information processing. However,

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In carried out fluent speaking, the speaker should deal with the language

features and mental processing. It is not an easy thing, however, so that it needs

practices

The importance of speaking is briefly explained by Freeborn (1986: 76)

that people learn to talk before they learn to read and write. It is not merely

something that people know about the language but how people made it concrete,

and transmitted and received by one or more of the human senses. Similar with

Freeborn statement, Alexander (1975: vii-x) suggests that language learners are

successful when they can carry out meaning from what they have learnt. The

success is not measured by how much the language learners have learnt the

language features but how well the language learners do performance in the

reality. Mostly, the performance is shown in speaking since it is the most

noticeable language skills. In addition, Richards (2008: 23) also states that The

mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second-language or

foreign-language learners.

2. The Nature of Speaking

Speaking is the active use of language to express meanings so that other

people can understand them (Cameron, 2001: 4). Related definition stated by

Fulcher (2003: 23), he defines that speaking is the verbal use of language to

communicate with others. Speaking is the process of building and sharing

meaning through the use of verbal and non verbal symbols in a variety of contexts

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opinions, and other information in variety of contexts, people can use a verbal

language such as utterances and non verbal language such as gestures.

Dealing with speaking, Brown (2001: 267) argues that when someone can

speak a language it means that he can carry on a conversation reasonably

competently. He also states that the benchmark of successful language acquisition

is almost always the demonstration of ability to accomplish pragmatic goals

through an interactive discourse with other speakers.

When someone wants to have oral communication, there are some criteria

that need to be noticed. Nunan (1989: 32) states that successful oral

communication involves developing the following aspects

a. The ability to articulate phonological features of the language comprehensibly.

b. Mastery of stress, rhythm, and intonation pattern. c. An acceptable degree of fluency.

d. Transactional and interpersonal skills.

e. Skills in taking short and long speaking turn taking. f. Skills in the management of interactions.

g. Skills in negotiating meaning.

h. Conversational listening skills (successful conversations require good listeners and good speakers)

i. Skills in knowing about and negotiating purposes for conversations.

j. Using appropriate conversational formulae and filler.

3. Criteria of Good Speaking

In a real life situation, when a person speaks language fluently, it means

that he/ she has good speaking ability. However, it is not only fluency that can be

used to assess someone’s speaking ability. There are four criteria according to

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a. Pronunciation

Pronunciation is the way a certain sound or sounds are produced

(Longman dictionary, 2002: 429). It covers the way for speaker to produce clear

language when they speak. To be able to have successful communication, the

speaker of a language needs to be able to understand each other with relative ease

(Nunan, 2003: 112). It means that the speaker has to be able to give clear message

to the listener. Therefore, teaching pronunciation that includes stress, rhythm, and

intonation is very important in speaking.

b. Fluency

Fluency is also an important aspect in speaking. Fluency is the ability to

speak quickly and automatically (Harris and Hodges, 1995: 14). It implies that

fluent speaker is a person who can use the language quickly and automatically in a

conversation. In other words, fluency is the ability to keep the conversation going

naturally. Thus, the activities focused on fluency are needed to be conducted by

the teacher.

c. Accuracy

Accuracy is the ability to produce grammatically correct sentences or

utterances (Longman Dictionary, 2002: 204). Brown (2001: 268) adds that a

speaker is said to be accurate if he/ she produces clear, articulate, grammatically

and phonologically correct language. It means that to speak accurately the speaker

needs to follow the rules of the language such as grammar and structure.

d. Vocabulary

A set of lexemes, including a single word, compound words, and idioms

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something. Burton (1982: 98) stated that without a large vocabulary, it is

impossible to use English precisely and vividly. It means that vocabulary is one of

the aspects which have to be learnt if someone wants to speak in English.

4. Stages of Teaching Speaking

Since comprehending speaking skills is important, in teaching and learning

activity, teachers should consider the stages of teaching speaking. Terry (2008)

suggests three stages of teaching speaking. Those three stages are,

pre-communicative stage, practice stage, and pre-communicative interaction or production

stage. In pre-communicative stage, Terry suggests some useful activities to do

such as Introduce the communicative function, highlight the fixed expressions,

point out the target structure, provide students with the necessary vocabulary, and

provide students with the language of interaction. During the practice stage, there

are several activities that teachers should do such as, correct students if necessary

prompt students if necessary (do it lexically), ban (monolingual) dictionaries, aim

for intelligibility. The last stage is communicative interaction, in this stage the

activity that should be carried out are encourage language negotiation, take note of

any aspects that may hinder communication (pronunciation, vocabulary,

grammar), respect students ‘wait’ time.

Almost similar with Terry, Richards (2008: 29-30) also suggests several

stages in teaching speaking. However, different from Terry (2008), Richards

(ibid) divides the teaching speaking into three groups, those are teaching speaking

as Interaction, teaching speaking as transaction, and teaching speaking as

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interaction is perhaps the most difficult skill to teach since interactional talk is a

very complex and subtle phenomenon that takes place under the control of

unspoken rules. In teaching as interaction, there are three aspects that teachers

should deal with such as giving students situation, giving students chance to

practice, and giving feedback.

Different from teaching speaking as interaction, teaching speaking as

transaction seems to be easier since current communicative materials are a rich

resource of group activities, information-gap activities, and role plays that can

provide a source for practicing how to use talk for sharing and obtaining

information, as well as for carrying out real-world transactions. There are three

stages in this kind of teaching speaking, those are, preparing, modeling and

eliciting, and practicing and reviewing. Preparing: Reviewing vocabulary,

real-world knowledge related to the content, and context of the role play (e.g.,

returning a faulty item to a store). Modeling and eliciting: Demonstrating the

stages that are typically involved in the transaction, eliciting suggestions for how

each stage can be carried out, and teaching the functional language needed for

each stage. Practicing and reviewing: Assigning students’ roles and practicing a

role play using cue cards or realia to provide language and other support.

Teaching speaking as performance is the third type of teaching speaking.

According to Jones (1996:17) Teaching peaking as performance requires a

different teaching strategy. He then states:

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This approach involves providing examples or models of speeches, oral

presentations, stories, etc., through video or audio recordings or written examples.

Feez and Joyce’s approach to text-based instruction provides a good model

for teaching talk as performance (1998). This approach involves:

a. Teaching explicitly about the structures and grammatical features of spoken

and written texts

b. Linking spoken and written texts to the cultural context of their use

c. Designing units of work that focus on developing skills in relation to whole

texts

d. Providing students with guided practice as they develop language skills for

meaningful communication through whole texts

Related to the stage of teaching speaking as performance Feez and Joyce

(1998: 28–31) give the following description of how teaching speaking as

performance proceeds:

Phase 1 Building the context In this stage, students:

1. Are introduced to the social context of an authentic model of the text-type being studied

2. Explore features of the general cultural context in which the text-type is used and the social purposes the text-text-type achieves

3. Explore the immediate context of situation by investigating the register of a model text that has been selected on the basis of the course objectives and learner need

Phase 2 Modeling and deconstructing the text In this stage, students:

1. Investigate the structural pattern and language features of the model

2. Compare the model with other examples of the same text-type

Phase 3 Joint construction of the text In this stage:

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2. The teacher gradually reduces the contribution to text construction, as the students move closer to being able to control text-type independently

Almost similar with Richards, Littlewood (2004) outlined a framework to

classify language-learning activities into five types: non-communicative learning,

pre-communicative language practice, communicative language practice,

structured communication, and authentic communication.

Non-communicative learning involves the strongest emphasis on form.

The activities are usually un-contextualized, and learners’ responses are always

fixed. Therefore, even if learners do not understand the meaning of the question or

stimulus, they can respond in the right way. This category therefore includes (e.g.)

substitution drills, un-contextualized grammar exercises, and pronunciation drills.

Pre-communicative language practice still emphasizes mainly structural

features, but also moves towards meaning. There is still control over learner’s

responses, but there may be more than one correct way for learners to respond.

Teachers should always know what learners are going to say because there will be

no new information here. One familiar example is question-and-answer practice,

in which a teacher asks a question to learners and it’s necessary for the learners to

pay attention to the meaning of the words if they want to respond correctly.

Littlewood’s third category is communicative language practice, in which

the range of language use is still predictable and learners use the predictable

language to convey information. There is still some control over learners’

responses, especially in syntactic patterns, but no control over lexical items. Since

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in different ways in different real-world situations. For example, this category

includes activities in which learners use recently learned vocabulary and

structures to do a survey, or where they use learned sentence patterns to get some

information from their partners in order to complete a task. A classic example of

communicative language practice is an information-gap activity.

Fourth, in structured communication, the primary focus is on the

communication of meaning, so the target language is used to share information

with each other. However, in order to ensure that the learners can deal with

context, the situation is structured carefully by the teacher. Hopefully, these

structured contexts can help learners to elicit their pre-learned language.

Structured communication includes more complex information-exchange

activities and structured role-playing tasks.

Last, at the extreme right of the diagram, is authentic communication. The

most obvious feature of authentic communication is its strong focus on the

communication of a message. In authentic communication, language forms

employed are absolutely unpredictable, such as using language to discuss, to solve

a problem, or to complete a content-based task.

In addition, Grant (1987) suggests activities in teaching speaking that

include three types of speech work.

1. Drills

It helps students to develop language accuracy. Drills are usually

mechanical exercises that help students facilitate the process of learning the

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however, they are useful for helping novice learners master some of the basic

structures of a language.

2. Communication practice exercises

They are aimed at developing fluency. These conversations are not really

authentic or genuine, and most are carefully structured by teachers. Nevertheless,

they are the key to authentic communication because they set up a condition in

which students have opportunities to use language to convey messages to one

another—to communicate. Hence, communication practice exercises are the first

step from drilling language patterns to communication of meaning.

3. The use of natural and spontaneous language

It is something that some textbooks endeavor to cover, but only the teacher

can really instill, since the teacher can interact with students or encourage them to

interact with each other in a way that the textbook cannot.

C. Interactive Teaching

1. Definition of Interactive Activities

In teaching and learning activities, there must be an interaction happened

among students and a teacher. Douglas Brown explains that interactive interaction

is an important word for language teacher mainly because it is communication

era. He defines that Interaction is the collaborative exchange of feelings, thoughts,

or ideas between two or more people, resulting on a reciprocal effect on each

other (Brown, 2001: 165). From the interaction, then, people interpret, negotiate

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Interaction as explained by Boyd and Apps (1980: 5) in Moore (1997: 23),

connotes the interplay among environment, the individuals, and the patterns of

behaviours in a situation. During the interaction process among students and a

teacher there will be a transactional distance, a space of potential

misunderstanding between the inputs of instructor and those of the learner. This

gap does not merely happen in distance education when the students and a teacher

cannot communicate face to face. He points out that the transactional gap can also

happen in face to face teaching and learning activities.

In teaching and learning interaction, Michael G. Moore states that there are

three clusters of interaction namely Dialogue, Structure, and Learners Autonomy.

Dialogue is developed by teachers and learners in the course of the interactions

that occur when one gives instruction and the others respond. Structure is the

elements in the course design, or the ways in which the teaching programme is

structured so that it can be delivered through the various communications media.

While, Learners Autonomy, the second dimension of independent learning is a

state when learners use teaching materials and teaching programmes to achieve

goals of their own, in their own ways, under their own control (Moore, 1997:

23-24).

2. Advantages of Interaction

In case of transactional distance that possibly happens, Brown (2001: 165)

states that interactive interaction should begin from the very beginning of

language study. Brown statement comes from a reason, because interaction has

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interaction, Wilga Rivers says that through interaction, students can increase their

language store as they listen to or read authentic linguistics material, or even the

output of their fellow students in classroom activities. In interaction, students can

use all process of the language that they have learned or casually absorbed in a

real life exchanges (Rivers, 1987: 4-5).

Through interaction, students can also improve their critical thinking and

provide opportunity for students to build metacognitive strategies to help them

organize, plan, and make decision about their learning. The interaction can be

established from group work activities in teaching and learning activities (Shaila

and Trudell, 2010: 1). The other advantage of interaction suggested by

Rance-Roney (2010: 20), he states that interaction in teaching and learning activities can

help teacher establish students-center learning. Therefore, it is not only the teacher

who speaks in front of the classroom while the students listen to the teacher. It is

acknowledged that students can learn more when students can talk and

communicate and discuss things with people rather than just listen to the teachers

speaking in front of the students (Fountain, 1994: 48).

3. Principles of Interactive Teaching

Based on Brown (2001: 166) statement, in interactive teaching, there are

seven principles that teachers should recognize.

a. Automaticity

The first principle is dealing with freeing language in control. The students

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communication in this case is not on grammar or other linguistics form but the

meanings and messages.

b. Intrinsic Motivation

The intrinsic motivation is the result of appreciating their competence of

using language. The motivation also occurs when the students build system of

self-reward.

c. Strategic Investment

Interaction encourages students to create strategies when students want to

share idea, interpret the ideas of their conversation partners, and when the

conversation is blocked.

d. Risk-Taking

Interaction requires the risk of failing to produce intended meaning or

interpret intended meaning from conversation partners. Sometimes students end

up with laughing from their conversation partners or rejection. This is a common

risk that often happens when interaction takes place. In this case, students should

be able to cope with this situation because the rewards are great.

e. The Language-Culture Connection

The cultural loading of interactive speech as well as writing requires that

interlocutors be thoroughly versed in the cultural nuances of language.

f. Inter-language

The complexity of interaction requires a long developmental process of

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inter-language development. Therefore, teachers’ feedback is very crucial to students’

development.

g. Communicative Competences.

Interaction involves all communicative competences like grammatical,

discourse, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and strategy. All of those communicative

aspects should work together for successful communication.

To succeed the interactive teaching, teachers should realize their role in

teaching and learning activities. Different topic needs a different role. Even, in an

activity, teachers sometimes do several roles all together. Here are some roles

suggested by Brown (2001: 166-168).

a. Controller

It is widely used in traditional education system or teacher-centered

process. However, teachers sometimes need to control students when they should

speak and what language form they should use. In addition Harmer (1998: 3) As a

controller, teachers should be able to control disruptive situation, withdraw over

active students and draw out quiet students.

b. Director

Brown makes analogy that teachers are like conductor of an orchestra

whom they have a role to keep the process of learning or interaction running

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c. Manager

This role is dealing with teachers’ role as ones who plan lesson, modules,

and courses, and who structure the larger, longer segment of classroom time. In

addition, this role also allows each individual to be creative within the parameters.

d. Facilitator

This role is very common in student-centered learning. Here the teachers

facilitate the learning process, making learning easier for students, helping

students to clear away roadblock, to find shortcut, to negotiate rough terrain.

e. Resource

As a resource, teachers become a counselor to give advice for students

who have a problem in comprehending certain materials or for those who need

additional information about certain materials. Therefore, teachers should be

available when the students need them to solve their problem.

Here, teachers should be aware when they have to be controller, director,

manager, and the like. Otherwise, they combine those roles in certain case when

they have to do that.

4. Procedure of Doing Interaction

In doing the interactive teaching, Moore (1997: 26) also suggests the

procedure of teaching and learning activities, those are, 1) presentation, 2)

Support of the learner's motivation, 3) Stimulate analysis and criticism, 4) Give

advice and counsel, 5) Arrange practice, application, testing and evaluation, and

6) Arrange for student creation of knowledge. These things actually can be done

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English as much as possible as a language exposure for students (Pollard, 2008:

6).

Furthermore, Diana Cinamon (1994: 64) also suggests teachers do several

things to develop the students learning and English by increasing the opportunity

for all children to work and talk together. She explains this way:

To develop their learning and their English I planned more collaborative

work to increase the opportunities for all children to work and talk together. Being

part of an interactive group provides opportunities for bilingual children to:

1. be involved at an appropriate conceptual level, learning, contributing,

listening, gaining in understanding without having to speak until ready to do

so (children’s receptive language is always in advance of their productive

speech and trying to get them to speak before they are ready may hinder

progress);

2. take part (a silent part perhaps) in conversations about events and things in

which the children are engaged, which is the natural way to acquire language,

whether first or second;

3. Hear models of the English language. The language the children will learn the

most readily will be the language of their peers. Even when most of the

children are bilingual there will still be those who are more proficient than

others in English to provide models;

4. Make language their own by using it in a variety of situations, which includes

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essential rehearsal and practice, more effective for language learning than

sterile drills or exercises;

5. Experiment as they learn with the language structures they have acquired to

express meaning. The first language will not interfere with learning a second

and such errors as do occur are likely to be evidence of learning in the same

way that young children acquiring their first language make errors as they

sort out the structure of the language.

In conducting the teaching and learning activities, there should be a

balance of Teacher Talk Time (TTT), and Students Talking Time (STT) although

good TTT may have beneficial quality. The good TTT can be achieved if teachers

know how to talk to students by using appropriate rough-tune which is used based

on students’ level. However, Based on Jeremy Harmer statement, the best lessons

are ones that maximize the practice of STT in teaching and learning activities by

doing discussion, telling story, etc (1998: 3).

D. Group Work Activities 1. Definition of Group Work

Nunnan (1999: 84) states that group work is essential to any classroom that

based on principles of experimental learning. Through group, learners develop

their ability to communicate through task that require them, within the classroom,

to approximate the kinds of thing they will need to be able to do communication

in the world beyond the classroom. Therefore, the communication in the

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In addition, Brown (2001: 177) defines that group work is a kind of

technique in which two or more students work together to solve problem, do

classroom activities, and other matters due to the learning process. Group work

tends to be effective since learners are able to learn independently without much

guidance from the teacher. In his definition, Brown indicates that pair work is also

a kind of group work consisting of two students. Brown (2001: 182) suggest that

it is very reasonable to implement pair work for task which is short, linguistically

simple, and quite controlled in terms of the structure of the task.

2. Group Work Activities in Speaking Class

The examples of activity which can be carry out in pair work are practicing

dialogue, simple question and answer exercise, performing certain meaningful

substitution or drill, quick brainstorming activity, checking written work with

each other, and preparation for merging with a larger group (Brown, 2001: 182).

Different from pair work, a bigger group work is usually implemented for

activities which are structurally more complex or the activities need more than

two members. Several activities which need bigger groups are, communication

game, role-play, drama, project, Interview, brainstorming, information gap,

jigsaw, problem solving and decision making, and opinion exchange.

Furthermore, Harmer (2002: 271-274) also suggests a number of

classroom activities for group work in speaking class as follows.

a. Acting from the Script

This type of activity allows the teacher to ask the students to act out scenes

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be followed by filming the result. By giving students practice before they give

their final performances, it means that acting out is both learning activity and

language producing activity.

b. Playing Communication Games

This activity makes use of games which are designed to provoke

communication between students. It is frequently depends on an information gap,

so that one student has to talk to a partner in order to do the required tasks.

In an information gap, for example, each student (in a pair or group of 3-4) has

some information that the others in the group need in order to complete a task.

The students must ask each other question to get the missing information.

Information gap activities may occupy an important role in the lesson

plans of many EFL teachers, as they may be one of the clearest ways to check

how well one student can transmit and understand information with another

(O’Malley & Valdez Pierce, 1996). In an information gap activity or

assessment the designer deliberately creates a situation in which one student is

given information, while another is not. “Bridging that gap” successfully is the

goal of this type of activity, to help improve and measure oral proficiency

(Underhill, 1987). However, as Yearwood (2008) has noted, information learned

in one context is not necessarily transferred to another context. In addition,

presenting the same information repeatedly, spaced over time, greatly enhances

effective processing (deWinstanley & Bjork, 2002; Dempster, 1987). Therefore,

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similar vocabulary and structures are used across the activities to provide

reinforcement.

c. Discussion

This activity need to be encouraged by the teacher in order to provide

productive speaking in language classes. It can be achieved by providing activities

which force students C to reach a decision as a result of choosing between specific

alternatives in the discussion.

d. Prepared Talk

The talks are not designed for an informal spontaneous conversation. This

activity represents a defined and useful speaking genre and can be extremely

interesting for both speakers and listeners if it is properly organized. This activity

allows students individually or in a group to make a presentation about a topic

they choose before.

e. Questionnaire

This activity allows students to designed questionnaires on any appropriate

topic. The questionnaire and respondent have something to say each other using

natural use of certain repetitive language patterns and thus are situated in the

middle of our communication continuum. The result obtained from the

questionnaires can form the basis of written work, discussion, or prepared talks.

f. Simulation and Role Play

This type of activities can be used to encourage the general oral fluency or

to train the students for specific situations by simulates a real life encounter as if

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students of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). This activity has three distinct

advantages. First, they can be good fun and motivating activities. Second, it

allows hesitant students to be more confident in speaking since they do not have

to take responsibility for what they are saying. Third, they allow the students to

use a much wide range of language. In addition, Chen Jun (2006) states that this

technique is virtually one of the ways we can give our learners the opportunity to

practice improving a range of real-life spoken language in the classroom.

Even, it is suggested for ESP students, in teaching and learning activities,

teachers can apply this activity for students to learn pronunciation, and other

speaking skills.

Teachers and practitioners are strongly recommended to take into account

some important considerations while intending to practice role-play. For instance,

Baker (1989) believes that since in all role plays the candidate is required to play

a part, s/he needs to be given clear instruction and sufficient time to understand

them.

3. Advantages of Group Work

However, like all teaching activities, Nation (1989: 20) states that it can

only be effective if the teachers plan the activities properly. Therefore, P. Nation

suggests teacher pay a good attention to several principles to conduct group work

activities. In his book entitled Group Work and Language Learning he suggests

five principles about planning group work activities to make every students

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information is distributed, 4) the seating arrangement of the members of the

group, and 5) the social relationship between the members of the group.

Based on Nation’s statement (1989: 20), there are five goals of group work

that can be achieved in teaching and learning activities. These five goals are:

a. Negotiation of Input

Through group work, students have opportunities to get language exposure

that they can understand. In addition, if teacher can handle the group work well, it

can be one of the most valuable sources.

b. New Language Items

Almost the same as negotiation input, by group work, students can have

opportunities to get a range of language items and language function exposure.

The student will have better opportunity than what they get in teacher-led classes.

c. Fluency

Group work allows learners to develop fluency in the use of language

features that they have already learn.

d. Communication Strategy

There are several communication strategies that learners should

comprehend. By group work, students can learn about those communication

strategy like negotiation strategy to control input, strategy to keep conversation

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e. Content

Since the formal education is run based on curriculum, the goals of group

work is to achieve the mastery of the content curriculum subject that the learners

are studying.

While Nation simply focuses on speaking, Brown (2001: 177-179) defines

a broader view of the advantages of the group work not merely about speaking. At

least, Brown mentions four advantages of group work, those are:

a. Generating Interactive Language

In traditional language class, teacher talk is dominant whereas the students

talk is very limited. By creating group work, it is possible for students to have

more change to speak and share knowledge together or simply solve problem.

Group activities, in addition, also provide opportunities for students’ initiation, for

face-to-face give and take for practice in negotiating meaning.

b. Offering an Embracing Affective Climate

Group work can be a community of learners cooperating with each other

to achieve a certain goal. In addition, it can also be activities to increase students’

motivation.

c. Promoting Learners Responsibility and Autonomy

Group work places responsibility for actions and progresses upon each of

the group member somewhat equally. Related to this advantage, Brown gives a

case in which teachers do not make groups in their teaching and learning activities

and merely ask each student to translate sentence by sentence in turn. In this case,

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teacher to students that is translating a sentence. This case shows up clearly that

students are not involved in teaching and learning activities (Brown, 2001: 178).

Related to the learners autonomy Jenny Des Fountain states “school knowledge is

the knowledge which someone else present to use, we partly grasp it, enough to

answer examination question, but it remains someone else’s knowledge not ours.

If we never use it we probably forget it. Therefore, we have to use knowledge for

our own purpose and incorporate it into our view of world” (Fountain, 1994: 48)

d. Step toward Individualizing Instruction

Group work can help students with varying abilities to accomplish

separate goals since in the classroom there will be different characteristics of

students with different proficiency and objective. Therefore it can help teachers to

help them achieve their goals.

The other advantage of group work is found by Reza Pishghadam and

Mostafa Morady Moghaddam from their research study. The result shows that the

class which was taught on group work as the main tool for teaching enjoyed

considerable advantages, especially in memorizing conversations and learning

new vocabularies. Although it was found that there was also a little variation in

term of phonological and grammatical that was produced by the students

(Pishghadam & Moghaddam, 2011). Similarly, Eveyik-Aydin (2003) also states

that teachers agreed that group/pair work activities developed oral conversational

and communication skills, encouraged student involvement, and increased the

quality of language practice and students' motivation to use English. This

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4. Types of Group Work

Nation (1989: 20-23) suggests four types of group work or he named it

arrangement which can be implemented in teaching and learning activities. Teachers can select which one of those four types will be implemented in teaching

and learning activities. The selection of the arrangement type should be based on

the goals they want to achieve, after that, teachers should determine the tasks.

seating arrangement should also be considered because different types of group

work will have different seating arrangement.

a. The Combining Arrangement

In this type of group work, each member has different piece of information

that all the other needs. It is the ideal arrangement in group work because it

ensures interest and participation. It also encourages students’ involvement

because each member has unique and essential information that the other

members do not. Therefore, the students will take part actively. Sometimes, this

arrangement is also inserted in the other arrangements to make them work well.

b. The Cooperating Arrangement

Different from the combining arrangement, in the cooperating

arrangement each learner has access to the same information or materials and

cooperates to the task. The cooperating arrangement is the most common

arrangement. it is very useful when teachers want the students to share their

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c. The Super-Inferior Arrangement

Actually, this type of arrangement almost the same as the combining

arrangement, the difference is on the member who has information. In this

arrangement, there is just one member of the group who has information that the

other member needs. It is also very useful for pair work activity.

d. Individual Arrangement

Different from the cooperative arrangement, here, each learner has access

to the same information but must perform or deal with different part of it.

5. Implementing Group Work in the Classroom

Brown (2002: 182-190) suggests that there are four step of implementing

group work activities. The steps are:

a. Selecting Appropriate Group Technique

This step requires teachers to select whether they want to create pair work

or group work. The selection should be based on the goals and tasks that they are

going to give. In this step, Harmer (2001: 120-122) suggests teacher should also

figure out how the group work will be created. There are three ways of creating

group work based on Jeremy Harmer which based on 1) Friendship, 2) Streaming,

3) Chance. By means with streaming is that teachers mix the students who are

smart and not really smart based on the understanding of materials.

b. Planning Group Work

There is an article from National Oracy Projects (1994: 57-59) which

states that planning is the central and crucial activity in such activity not the

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is being managed in such a way. In this step, Brown (2002: 187) suggests teacher

carry out several considerations to figure out before implementing the group work

like introduce the technique, justify the use of small groups, model the technique,

give explicit detail instruction, divide the class, check for clarification, and set the

task in motion. Dealing with the instruction Jeremy Harmer (1998: 3) suggests

that the instruction should be as simple as possible and logical. Then, teachers

also should check students’ understanding of the instruction.

c. Monitoring the Task

In this step, teachers’ job is being a source and facilitator (Brown, 2001:

189). Therefore, as a teacher, Jenny Des Fountain suggest the teachers should be

aware of the importance of finding ways to listen carefully to what our students

actually say, and to value their ideas (Fountain, 1994: 49)

d. Debriefing

There are two things teachers should do. The first is reporting in which

each member reports the result of their work to the other groups. The second is

establishing affective support in which the teacher brings the class back together as a whole community of learners then they may discuss or ask question related to

their problems when doing the task.

E. High School Students

1. Characteristics of High School Students

In this stage, children are able to think beyond the immediate context in

more abstract terms. They are able to carry out logical operation such as deductive

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logical thinking (Brown, 2001: 92). Furthermore, Harmer (2001: 39) states that

children at this stage are in the process of searching their individual identity.

Therefore, they try to look for their peers approval and attention rather than

teachers approval. Teachers’ approval and attention are not crucial for them at this

stage because they want to be accepted by their peers. Besides searching for

individual identity, Douglas Brown states that the students at this age are